Who's Staffing Obama 2.0: An Update

As many as eight senior staff positions could open up within the next few weeks, as the Washington Postnoted today, leaving President Obama with a different -- but strangely familiar -- cast of advisers, some playing new roles.

And Team Obama generally plays well together, but anticipated
friction that could develop between certain personalities is causing
several top aides to spill the beans to reporters in an effort to
influence the outcome of the president's staff and structure review.

That's one reason why Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and former
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle are now being mentioned alongside
former Commerce Secretary William Daley
as potential chiefs of staff -- months after their names were first
circulated. (Daschle has a ton of former staff members in key White
House positions, and Vilsack has won the respect of many for his
stewardship of several less-noticed domestic initiatives.) Daley,
however, is still the leading candidate if current chief of staff Pete
Rouse does not retain the job.

To briefly sum up the state of play: For chief of staff, Rouse and
Daley remain the front-runners; replacing deputy chief of staff Jim
Messina (who will manage the reelection campaign), Alyssa Mastromonaco
(as we first reported in December)
and someone else to handle a newly created policy-politics role; deputy
press secretary Bill Burton or vice presidential communications chief
Jay Carney replacing Robert Gibbs, who will either (a) take a senior
campaign role, (b) become a senior adviser in the White House, or (c)
run the left's major independent expenditure effort for 2012. Mona
Sutphen, another deputy chief of staff, is departing; her replacement is
unclear because the nature of the job might change.

One strong candidate for a deputy chief of staff job that includes
part of Sutphen's old portfolio is Nancy-Ann DeParle, who oversaw health
care reform efforts from the West Wing. Less likely to be promoted is
Carol Browner, who tends to the energy and environment portfolio.
Treasury adviser Gene Sperling, the architect of the payroll tax cut
signed into law last month, is expected to become director of the
National Economic Council.

Stephanie Cutter, a special assistant to the president with
wide-ranging strategic communications experience, could be promoted;
over the past year, the president has become a fan of her work. Cutter
would oversee a broader portfolio of activities, reporting to former
2008 campaign manager David Plouffe, who will take over from David
Axelrod in several weeks. Another name mentioned favorably: Sean
Sweeney, the chief of staff to the chief of staff, who's seen as a jack
of all trades.

Leaving soon will be Tina Tchen, Obama's top outreach aide, who
reports to Valerie Jarrett. Unclear at this point are the futures of
Melody Barnes, the head of the Domestic Policy Council, and her deputy,
Heather Higginbottom.

And then there's Lisa Brown, virtually unknown as a member of the
senior staff to the outside, who, as staff secretary, sees the president
as often as anyone else. But this position, necessary in an age of
paper documents, is less important in an era of secure e-mail. A White
House reorganization might move that position down the food chain.

The new lineup might be fielded sooner -- as in days from now --
rather than later because Obama wants his new team working well together
by the time he gives the State of the Union address.